Problem Solving: Complex problems with smart solutions- Electricity Bill payments (Year 2010)

As a leader, I have solved multiple problems during my career. I am writing some of the critical once in this sections to help readers develop a mindset and solve their problems in an effective way.

Today I will talk about the problem of electricity bill payment in ATM Industry and the solution provided. Its easy now but was a burning issue in 2010.

The Problem:

Electricity bill payment was following the traditional model of collecting the bills and making payment locally. This was impacting profitability with increased cost on physical payment, late payment charges and loss of revenue on disconnection. The impact was huge considering the future growth of ATMs.

Analyzing the Problem:

That was the time when very few DISCOMs (electricity supply organizations) were sharing bills and accepting payments online. Every state had 3-5 service providers in each state which makes the total numbers to 100+ companies to manage. Each of them had a different process for payment. Few issues listed below:

• We didn't have the consumer credentials to see the bills as it was in physical copy
• No online banking which enable us to pay online bill
• Some of the DISCOMs accepting only credit card for payment

The Solution: There is only one solution, Bill has to be paid online.

The Process implementation: Every problem had a different process to get solved. First I hired a team to manage the process. As this was completely new getting a right team was not easy but we managed to get them onboarded.

• Making the database: Team was asked to make the database for discoms, their payment process, lead time to pay the bill after generation, requirement of login and options to pay.
• Payment Ecosystems: A new bank account was opened with the bank, which was available as a payment option for key service providers. Also a corporate credit card was obtained only for this purpose. We also started working on partnership with billdesk which has automated 70% of our payment after implementation.

Result: As a saying goes "Bigger the problem the greater the impact". In few months 80% of total bills were paid online. This was done first time in the Industry and adopted by other players later on.

This has helped us improve the ATM uptime and reduce cost significantly.

Every problem has a simple solution. We only need the mindset to solve it and believe me It will be done.